ic| The chill of the early morning was what had the two siblings huddled together, their shivering forms blowing out puffs of air in rattled breaths as they walked together, sides occasionally bumping. The similarities in their appearances were obvious but discreet at the same time, the stripes and colours from their parents making them the same but opposite; one dark and almost brooding while the other lighter and slightly more optimistic. Slightly.

They weaved between the tree trunks of the forest they were passing through, before stepping out together into the meadow they had been searching for. The rays of the rising sun illuminated their forms while they briefly glanced over the place where they had played together as foals.

Stice was the first to speak, brow furrowing slightly in thought."It's almost depressing. Thinking about how far we've come. And how far we've fallen."

Dew dripped from the blades of grass when their hooves disturbed them, stepping slightly more out into the open, always together.

"Hush, brother. We're here to find her, remember? Not go back to the past."

His laughter followed, clearly forced and sarcastic. She frowned, he had changed so much since being forced to leave their mother and change homes.. She wondered briefly if this was the growing up Hinote had gone through. It was almost a different kind of broken... Like a giving in..

"How can we do one without the other, Sister?" He spat the words, looking away. When teeth grazed his shoulder he jumped sideways, more out of surprise then actual pain. Ears flattened against his head while he mumbled an apology under his breath.

Saphire nodded in understanding. She wished she could be just as bitter, but he had the excuse of being abandoned, of feeling lost. She didn't. She could only open her arms to him and let him find closure, to heal.

They began to cross the field in silence, listening quietly for any noise that may indicate a presence.

OOC| I would LOVE to jump into this (didn't want to prod at you with you bein busy and whatnot), but I need to catch Vinny first - Frolic and Avalanche have a kind of healing session type thing beginning, finally, and while I'm quite happy to have her in both places (as both would be just about equally good for her) with this happening as an 'after' the other even though they're playing out at the same time I need to be sure that nobody would be frazzed by it...

OOC| Mkay, we talked it out, and she's going to go ahead and jump in here. Instead of trying to have this as an 'after' thing, it'll basically be as it is now. We'll have to see what life throws at her.

BIC| Frolic twitched her tail and glared at the ground, unable to bring herself to face the thoughts whirling about in her head. She hated being out, but for the moment she found herself unable to care enough to hide away in her stormy home. She was numb, torn, confused... Apathetic, in as much as she drifted aimlessly, never really seeing what was around her.

She had lost everything, all that made up her entire world, only to find some of it once again. But not enough of it. She remembered her circle mates, remembered her history, remembered her family and the way it had been; the way it should be still. She had lost all of it at one point, bonded, family, and contact with her circle. Now she had some of it again, but nary a sign had she seen of those in her circle and her family was still lost to her.

Nothing was right, and now she was no longer broken and splintered. She had to face this with her whole being, to see in the many ways that her world had been ripped asunder.

Her daughter... Her son... Her beloved. All of them lost to her. And without them, she was lost as well. What did she have left, what was there for her to pick up and keep going with? A new bonded that watched silently, letting her heal at her own pace; a forgotten pact made between serians she cherished. What was she other than splintered and alone, overwhelmed with what had once been? It had all been given to her so early that she couldn't remember a time where she had had any less, couldn't remember existing beyond all that was lost.

She didn't give up, though. She was determined, under all the pain, that she would make it right again. Only it couldn't go back to the way it had been; there was never any going back. Still, she could make it right in some ways, some how. She had to learn to heal and exist beyond that which had been so brutally torn from her.

But it was a slow and painful process and she was now certain that she was losing her mind while struggling through.

It was too much. She couldn't think, she couldn't lay under a dripping tree and let the pain take her, she couldn't force a smile and attempt to simply cope and deal with life as it came - neither of her split minds was able to absorb the shock of what was tumbling through her head, not today.

So she walked, her face blank and cold in the chill morning, legs moving automatically. The land was strange around her; different now, but recognizable if she had bothered to actually look. Memories flashed behind her eyes, stabbing at her heart, and she felt herself tear all the worse. To wander and keep away, to heal her own wounds first as she had been told would be best, or simply find that which she had lost and tie her existence into her family and circle once again. She longed for the small ones that she had nurtured; but they were gone, replaced by serians she wouldn't even recognize, creatures she wanted so badly to help as only a mother could wish for. And her mate, her beloved Spin, missing for so long now... He should have been there with her, standing beside her. He should still be the stallion she had first fallen for. The one that had fathered her foals.

Her stomach churned and she flicked an ear listlessly, unable to force herself to care. She'd give herself a case of colic from the stress at this rate, but it didn't seem to matter.

And then, a sound - there, not too distant. A voice, familiar, strange, harsh. A chill ran down her spine and she lifted her head, jaw dropping open slightly as she saw none other than her own kindred foals. Something shifted in her mind and a cold 'oh sh~t' sensation settled in her stomach as, for the briefest of moments, her head cleared. Her foals, no longer foals, so changed now; she wasn't ready. She would break herself, lose herself all over again, become nothing more than a shadow of her family; only she wouldn't, as she had already begun the process of healing and coming into her own. A strange sensation, like stones shifting in her head, made her look them over and take in every possible detail as she wondered which of her minds would take over first; Frolic could already feel the moment of clarity slipping away. Two minds now three, with a voice of clear reason waiting underneath, warred within her, an epic battle that would be nearly impossible to notice.

As the winner was decided she flicked her thick curtain of a tail off her legs, lifting it off the deadly spikes that Stice had inherited from her, and took her first step towards them, ears tilted back as a small smile touched her lips. She didn't even know if they had seen her yet; or why her heart was pounding so harshly against her ribs, much less how she had gotten to this area. It didn't matter, though. Those were her babies over there, her lost ones.

The sun slowly rose above the trees, momentarily casting light across the field. Saphire paused to bathe in the warm rays, a shiver of pleasure running under her skin. Stice had come to a stop a little ways in front, rolling his eyes. Mares.

It was at this moment that one little black ear quirked to the side, soon followed by the tilt of his fine head. His sister was the one who turned to look, and a sharp intake of breath made Stice whirl around, and for one small moment, his heart stopped beating.

Neither of the two dared to breath lest they wake from this dream... Slowly absorbing the information presented in front of them. She wasn't lost... She was right there, in the flesh.

Saphire took a step toward her sibling, her muzzle burying in his mane in a silent question.

He dared not to open his mouth in case he screamed. He answered simply by leaning into her touch, finding comfort in her presence.. Maybe he'd be okay as long as she was there.

It was the mare who took the first steps toward their mother, the larger but lankier stallion clinging closely to her side. They had both changed so much but so little since their foal days. They were both still fiery and occasionally arrogant. But they seemed wiser because of it, almost wary. They knew the ways of the world, and had the scars to prove it.

After all, it had been these two to come searching for her ever since Saphire had found her brother alone, crumpled beneath a pine tree.. She had carried him home to her father and her bonded, and begged for his bond to be Rainer's to keep. It hadn't taken much convincing, hardly any at all. Spin had been too devastated to even leave the confines of their bonded's realm..

Last the children had seen, Arch and Bayou had been convincing him to eat. For his family's sake if not for his own. He was too weak, both mentally and physically. The idea of Frolic being out there, lost, without her family... It had literally made him sick. So off the brother and sister went.. and here they finally were, walking slowly toward their final destination.

They paused with enough distance between them from her to hopefully keep everyone comfortable in the situation. And it was Saphire who smiled warmly to Frolic, while Stice remained a blank canvas at her side.

She tilted her ears uncertainly as she stepped forward to meet them, the words murmured quietly as they came within distance. They could choose to hear or ignore, it didn't seem to matter. It was them, though, all the same; her daughter that smiled, her son that remained blank.

It seemed that all three were tense, all three strangers. She tried to ignore it, but part of her she hadn't been aware of before seeped into her mind, insisting on pointing it out; on noticing that none of them knew what had happened, not really, not since they became lost to each other.

But her offspring were strong, determined, playful and fierce. That had always been their core make up. She had heard they had been broken, shattered, and she had been so lost herself. Was it still that way?

She was so muddled under it all. Maybe all of it was a dream; maybe she was still abandoned and her mind finally snapped, unable to stand sitting by any longer, only she was too stubborn to realize it. Or maybe they were really standing there. Who knew.

"Tell me everything," she demanded, twitching her tail as she glanced over the two she had born. She wanted to touch them, to make sure they were really there, but it felt wrong some how. That alone killed her inside, though she kept that grin in place, forcing herself to cope and be alright as an urge to nip at a flank and relieve some tension in one of their old games dashed through her mind.

Then the thought came to simply run. This was wrong, it was all wrong. It didn't feel like it had, like it should. She couldn't face this.

And the desire to laugh and cry at the same time. This was already a disaster. If she had thought she was going insane before, she was sure of it now, as it was at this moment her brain decided to stop splitting itself into different areas that were unaware of the others. All of them had crashed in, bits and pieces of each taking over at different times as they tumbled in chaos. She knew why she was here, how she had gotten here, and at the same time it confused her, or part of her. Only now she knew why, and could feel the war within herself for one splinter to rule all.

Why now, of all times?

But she wouldn't run. She was too fiery for that. They had found each other, she wasn't about to let that go.

"Tell me," she repeated, having merely taken a breath while her head clashed terribly, stepping closer and attempting to ignore the way her hide shivered and twitched. "What happened to m- everyone?"

It had taken every ounce of will power she possessed not to say the words 'my family.' Even 'our family' felt like it would have been wrong. She didn't know why she had even stopped herself, and yet at the same time she did. Her mind struggled, wrestled, trying to make sure that things were as good as possible - and then snapped. With a jerk of her head she shied sideways, snorting and tossing her short mane around as the previous victor was successfully rousted and another slammed firmly into place for a moment.

She blinked, confused, an undercurrent of fear rippling from an area that didn't even feel as if it came from her, and then looked at the pair blankly. "Stice? Sapphy? How..? Where have you been? Are you alright, where's your father? What happened?"

She tilted her ears forward, taking a step closer and looking the perfect image of sweet concern. Someone who was coping with having her entire universe ripped apart as she pieced it together again. Except for her eyes - they churned darkly, the deepest corners of her mind examining what had been left after she had lost everything, building herself beyond these things that had so hurt her, preparing the next uprising. She could feel it, something deep in her subconscious, something she could overlook easily enough. Forget about cautious and swimming in pain as she struggled, she was perfectly alright; her children were here now.